Egyptian lawyer linked to slain Italian arrested in Cairo

CAIRO – A rights group says Egyptian authorities have arrested a lawyer who assisted the family of an Italian graduate student killed under suspicious circumstances during a police crackdown in Cairo.

Dublin-based Front Line Defenders says Tuesday that Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy was arrested at Cairo International Airport two days ago while travelling to Geneva for a U.N. meeting on enforced disappearances.

He and his son provided legal services to the family of Giulio Regeni, a researcher who disappeared on Jan. 25, 2016 in Cairo and was later found tortured to death.

Hegazy’s whereabouts are unknown.

Italian prosecutors have complained that Egypt is not co-operating in the unsolved case. Italy recalled its ambassador in protest but recently announced a new one would return, citing some improvement.